Lawmakers seek sports overhaul

National Assembly Standing Committee on Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) has recommended sweeping reforms to the country’s football administration and urged the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) to fully implement reforms required by FIFA.

The lawmakers, meanwhile, also raised concerns over the state of cricket and hockey in the country.

The committee, chaired by convener Mehreen Razzaq Bhutto, reviewed the state of football and sports in Pakistan at a meeting in Islamabad on Tuesday.

The PFF President Syed Mohsin Gilani told the committee that FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) had welcomed steps being taken to develop football in Pakistan.

Gilani said the AFC president had met Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other senior government officials while Pakistan’s football development initiatives had also been discussed at the United Nations.

He said construction of the pitch at the FIFA Arena had been completed and that Prime Minister Shehbaz was expected to inaugurate the facility.

“Government is providing full cooperation and better results will emerge,” Gilani told the committee, while stressing that sustained development of football would not be possible without continued support from the government and other stakeholders.

Pakistan’s football administration had remained in decline for years, Gilani said, adding that all stakeholders now needed to work together to revive the sport.

He said Pakistan had won a football trophy after 74 years and had participated for the first time in a FIFA event.

The PFF has also asked FIFA to establish a youth academy in each province, Gilani said. Preparations are under way for Pakistan’s first inter-school football competitions, while the national women’s team is ranked higher than the men’s side, highlighting the potential for growth in women’s football, he added.

The committee recommended changes to the PFF’s regulations and directed the federation to ensure full implementation of FIFA reforms.

Bhutto said parliamentarians and other stakeholders wanted to see sports develop in Pakistan and pledged the committee’s support for football.

The meeting also turned to the country’s troubled hockey and cricket sectors.

The committee member Waseem Qadir said the shortage of playing fields was a major reason for the decline of hockey. Unlike cricket, he said, football and hockey could not easily be played in streets, making it necessary for provincial governments to provide adequate grounds.

Another committee member, Anjum Aqeel, said cricket was also facing decline.

Bhutto criticised the current administrative structure of Pakistan cricket, saying the PCB should be moved out of the Cabinet Division and brought back under the Ministry of IPC.

“Pakistan has faced embarrassment around the world over cricket,” she said, arguing that placing the PCB under the Cabinet Division had harmed the sport.

The federal secretary for IPC Mohyuddin Ahmed Wani told the committee that all Pakistani sports bodies must comply with the rules of their respective international governing organisations.

He said FIFA had also introduced reforms to its regulations and that international sports organisations had increased women's representation in their structures.

The committee's recommendations come as Pakistan seeks to rebuild its sporting infrastructure and strengthen governance across national sports federations, with football officials portraying recent FIFA and AFC engagement as an opportunity to put the country's football programme on a more sustainable footing.